Al Swanson has always been an outdoorsy guy, so much that his first plan out of high school was to study turf management. Yes, turf management. His interest began with a manager who was on the cutting edge of sustainable, ecologically healthy golf course management. That manager was way ahead of his time, and Al knew it.
Episode 86: The Importance of Inauthenticity with Mark Bowden
Mark Bowden’s TEDxToronto in 2013 had a huge impact on how I think about authenticity. As I was laboring over my book, Your Stories Don’t Define You, I realized the influence that talk has had on me over the past 5 years in my work with coaching clients. When I encourage people to step out of their comfort zones to discover their hidden talents and joy, I often refer to Mark’s work.
Episode 85: What Feels Like Internal Conflicts Are Likely Close Connections
Caroline Mays felt conflicted, almost like she had two completely separate lives. She had her life on the road as an endurance runner, with a group of peers and friends she could share all the aches, pains, and achievements of that sport. And she had her life as a writer, with other writers and friends she could share the disappointments, obstacles, and accomplishments in her work.
Episode 84: Never Try to Be Something You're Not
You wouldn’t think that word could cause such discouragement and frustration.
Focus.
It was the Women’s Leadership Retreat in early January, and my first experience on a board of a community organization. I was that year’s Vice President, and my primary responsibility for the year was to organize, coordinate, and host the annual conference that fall.
Episode 83: Your Strengths are Your Stories
Lisa was promoted and knew she would work hard to be a great manager. She had enough experiences, good and bad, to know what she didn’t want to do. But she had an immediate challenge in one of her employees, and had almost decided to find a way to let her go, to fire her. Something about having that kind of power, the ability to make a decision that would at least temporarily have a big impact on a person’s life, made her question her decision, thank goodness.
Episode 82: Baking Bread is More than Flour, Water, and Yeast
Rocky Connell, raised in Glasgow, Montana, which is as close to the Canadian border as you can get - and at the western edge of North Dakota, had a very unusual first job "milking" bulls for his father's veterinary business.
Episode 81: Your "Ah Ha" Moments are Your Career and Life Pivot Points
Dr. Carla Cooke might be what you’d call a late bloomer. Her stories about her late teens and early 20s aren’t about a driven, ambitious young woman. She worked hard in whatever job she had, but that often wasn’t enough to break through barriers. It took a painful experience with racism for her to realize her first calling to counseling and psychology. She knew there was more to that behavior than what she could see, and her compassion for every being was on full display.